page_title: Basque bowls
section_title: Hiru oholtzar
hierarchical_section_title: Basque bowls / Particular variants / Hiru oholtzar
caption_attribution_description: Graphic for Hiru oholtzar
context_page_description: Basque bowls, is one of the few Basque rural sports which do not originate in an activity related to rural or marine work. It has a number of other names too and is played in a bolatoki or bolaleku "bowls place" which often consists of a playing area in the open, an open sided structure with a low roof or a playing area located inside a colonnaded hallway.
  The game has been more common in the southern parts of the Basque Country in the last few centuries, especially in Álava and Biscay and to a lesser degree in Gipuzkoa and Navarre but documents from the Bayonne archives from the 17th-century mention the games and there is also other evidence to show that the game was also played historically in the northern part of the Basque Country.
  The main characteristic of the Basque variants of the game is the more prominent use of balls with finger-holes and hand-holes which distinguishes it from other regions in the area which prefer balls without.
context_section_description: Originally from the Burgos area and called tres tablones in Spanish, this version was brought to the west of Biscay by migrants. This is a visually spectacular variant on a 30 m by 6 m playing field, balls weighing between 5–7 kg with a 28 cm diameter which are launched at nine slim, pointed 35–40 cm tall pins arranged in a square, one behind the other in groups of three. They are each worth one points except for the one at the center of the square which is worth two. The aim is to scatter the pins as far away from their original location as possible. There is also a smaller 20 cm tall pin called miko or cuatro (because it is worth four points). Depending on they type of game, each player has 2–4 balls per round and the miko is placed in two different positions behind the big pins.
  In this variant, the ball and the central playing area are kept wet and the player launches the ball into the air and at the central row of pins using spin in an attempt to also catch the miko which is at the back and to the left or right of the central row. For a valid throw, the ball must pass a line in front of the pins in the air, touch down onto one of the platforms on which the pins stand and pass a line at the back on the ground to be a valid throw. Fouls are designated as follows:
  a morra is declared if the ball touches down before it reaches the pin platforms
  a zula is declared if the ball does not reach the back line
  a blanca is declared if the ball does not knock over and pins
  In all these cases the throw is invalid and the player may not bowl again in this round.
  Once a valid ball has come to rest past the line at the back, the player crosses over to the back area called cas de birle and is allowed to throw a second time from where the ball stopped but the miko is removed. Again, the throw has to be through the air until it touches down on a pin platform. There are usually also markers at the back indicating the lines of the pins.
  It is a very popular game both in Biscay and Cantabria.
caption: Hiru oholtzar
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